SIPWU 6.17.16 – E3 Edition: Microsoft

It’s E3! Every year we turn the usual weekly update into a summary of the conferences. This one is for Microsoft and it is the only one that will have our usual SIP news and Deals of the week section. Read on for more and watch out for the next summary soon.

Last year during E3 when we made these updates multiple people reported issues loading the page or it crashing their computer/phone due to the amount of videos. Since then we’ve also returned to making individual posts on the blog for each game as the news comes in. Using that, we’ve been able to remove a lot of the videos by linking directly to the written article. Not only should it improve things, but we can give you more information on each game that way. There’s more jumping around, but we hope this fixes the issues for everyone. On to E3!

Microsoft kicked off the conference with the reveal of the Xbox One S. This is a new slim version of the Xbox One which is 40% smaller for a similar price as the current system. You can read all about it here as well as get your first look at it. You may want to hold off though, because that post also features the closing surprise we’ll mention later.

The new Play Anywhere program was also announced that allows the purchase of a digital copy of an Xbox One game to also give a free copy of the same game on Windows 10. The game must be listed as part of the program and several of them were revealed on stage. This only applies to games coming later this year and beyond, not any of your current favorites.

Microsoft picked right back up with news on Gears of War, which most of you were waiting for. Best of all, was the new gameplay shown that you can check out in our post.

Before moving completely away from Gears they dropped a surprise reveal that General RAAM was coming to Killer Instinct. And he’s even free to try this week. Check here for more details.

Changing Gears, literally, Microsoft moved on to the reveal of Forza Horizon 3. The new racer will be set in Australia and feature new co-op campaign opportunities, brand new cars to the series as well as more of the great stuff of the old games. Read all of the news and see the gameplay trailer here.

ReCore made a very brief appearance this E3 with only a brief gameplay trailer. Fortunately, more information was announced after the conference that you can catch up with in our post.

Next up on the stage was a live demo of a boss fight in Final Fantasy XV. There wasn’t much to say about it, so watch it for yourself. Coming September 30th.

Next up was a single trailer for The Division showing a tease of the Underground expansion that will be coming first to Xbox One on June 28th. You can read more and see it here.

Battlefield 1 showed off a new trailer, all though not new because it was shown the day before at EA’s conference. It has gameplay and shows the level of destruction you’ll be able to do to the environment. In addition to this, DICE announced that EA Access members would get early access to the game before it launches. See the trailer here.

Returning to the Xbox system Microsoft mentions some of the updates coming later this year like Cortana and background music for Xbox One. Then they go into new items that have not been revealed. A new “Club” system will be added which basically functions as a group membership of like minded people based on what you want the club to be. Next, a “Looking for Group” tab is coming that will allow players to easily post what they want to do and requirements so others can join. And finally, “Xbox Arena” is a tournament platform that will let players compete in various events for bragging rights. All three features are planned to roll out later this year.

Minecraft took the stage to show off the new Realms program for Phone and computers. This lets players connect to each other across platforms for a small monthly fee. It is currently not available for Xbox One, but it’s planned to release later this year. Check out the rest of the details here.

Also announced was the addition of texture packs and add-ons coming to the pocket edition and Windows 10 versions of the game.

Next up was the introduction of Xbox Design Labs, a new part of Xbox.com that let’s you create a custom controller from a range of design options. There was also a reveal of a new controller design with the announcement of the Xbox One S, as well as a Gears of War 4 Limited Edition Elite controller during the Gears section. We waited until now to say it because all the controller news has been put together in this post so there’s no need to look anywhere else. Trust me, you want to see these.

Next was a new trailer for Inside, a game by the creators of the popular game Limbo. And to celebrate the release in a few weeks, Limbo is currently free to Gold members. Check out the trailer.

And no ID@Xbox segment is ever complete without a round up of the upcoming titles we’ll be seeing. Cuphead makes another appearance, but no information was given.

Next up was an onstage demo of We Happy Few. This was first announced last year and it’s coming to Xbox Preview next month. This is a different kind of game that you can’t describe all that well. Watch the gameplay below and see for yourself.

For those that saw the Bethesda conference, this wasn’t as big of a surprise as it was then. But, the card game from the Witcher 3 has been made into a standalone title. Introducing, GWENT. The link for the beta registration can be found here.

Another new game reveal was Tekken 7. The trailer shows the new story mode that transitions from cinematic to combat seamlessly. Also announced, during this week only TEKKEN TAG TOURNAMENT 2 is free to all Gold members and playable on Xbox One through backwards compatibility. Check out the trailer below.

Another surprise announcement was Dead Rising 4. It was simply a trailer, but it gives you a good idea of what to expect when it comes out December 6th of this year. Check it out in the post.

Scalebound made another appearance this year to show off some multiplayer footage. This took place with four players against a massive scorpion, not a crab like everyone says it is. You can view it here. The developers have said that the combat scales so the entire game can be completed solo, but it will be more fun and challenging in co-op.

Rare had more details on their first new IP in years. Sea of Thieves will be an online world where there will always be other players around you. You can set sail on your own or with a group to take down other player’s ships, or simply explore whatever you want. See it for yourself in the first gameplay reveal.

Following Sea of Thieves was the reveal of Sate of Decay 2. The original was popular on the Xbox 360 so they’re making a new one. It was only a cinematic teaser trailer so there’s almost no information available.

You can’t make it through an Xbox conference without some Halo news. This year, we got a new trailer for Halo Wars 2 and a surprise beta. The beta is currently available this week so be sure to download it and play. The cinematic trailer was quite easily the most impressive in the conference so be sure to watch that.

Closing the conference was Phil Spencer announcing another new Xbox One console called Project Scorpio coming in the Holiday of 2017. They’re claiming it’s the most powerful console ever built with even more capabilities than any other Xbox One system. And the best thing about all of this is the fact that these systems are considered the Xbox One family. All accessories will be able to move up the chain as you upgrade and all games will play on every version of the system. To see all the information on both new console announcements you can view it here.

And finally for those that just want to watch the whole conference here it is. Unfortunately, Xbox haven’t uploaded the official video to their channel so you’ll have to skip the commentary from GameSpot to see it. Just skip to the 39:15 point and it should be just starting.

Deals of the Week

Due to the amount of news to deal with this week the sales section is provided by Major Nelson. Click the link to see what’s cheap for the week. Both of the most recent Battlefield games are less than $5 so be sure to check that out as well as the links to the free games if you didn’t catch them above.

Announcements

This is simply an announcement from the Communique, not the site. There will not be an update next week so the team can have the time off after the craziness of E3. We’ll be back as usual the following week. Thank you.

Contests

We’re halfway through June so be sure to get your submissions in to the screenshot contest before it closes.